Welcome to Contemporary Author - Victoria Springfield

I’m delighted to welcome contemporary woman’s fiction author - Victoria Springfield - to my blog.

Victoria Springfield - Author

Hello Victoria – Thank you for taking time out from your busy writing schedule to join me on Arabella’s Blog and Chit-Chat, today. It was lovely to connect with you through the Romantic Novelists’ Association where many authors, writers and affiliates are willing and able to help those in need on their writing journey. But before we discover more about your release, The Italian Holiday, here are a few questions which will hopefully give your readers and followers and insight into some of the things that matter to you.

Arabella: You’ve got an idea for a story but it has yet to take shape. Where do you start? Do you concentrate on the location in the story, or developing the characters personalities and conflicts, or are there other key points you might consider?

Victoria:  My books are largely set in Italy so once I have the germ of an idea I concentrate on picking the right location.  My characters’ lives are shaped by their surroundings so I try to avoid writing a story that could be dropped into any old setting. The Italian Holiday for example takes the reader to Italy’s famous Amalfi Coast but I chose to set most of the action in Minori, a little-known seaside resort with a strong local identity and small-town feel.  Once I’m happy with the location I start to imagine the people who live there and the people who might visit.  Then I ask myself: what quirks of fate will bring them together – or pull them apart? 

Arabella: In your DEBUT release The Italian Holiday what is the overall theme or premise, and what made you choose this topic?

Victoria:  The Italian Holiday is a contemporary romance which weaves together the stories of unlucky-in-love Bluebell and kind widow, Miriam who meet on a coach trip around the Amalfi Coast with that of local girl, Michela who’s returning to Minori after a year in London.  The main themes are finding love, making unexpected friendships and the importance of family ties.  The three very different women have to learn to seize their chances of happiness and embrace the changes in their lives.  I wanted to write something uplifting and colourful that everyone can relate to.  I also wanted to touch on the theme of how the right clothes can transform the way we feel about ourselves – but people will have to read the book to find out how that fits in!

 

Arabella: Roses, Lilies, or another flower of choice?

Victoria:  Definitely roses but I also have a soft spot for anything that grows in a cottage garden such as foxgloves, daisies and forget-me-nots, and sunflowers always make me think of Italy.

 

Sunflowers

 Arabella: You’ve arranged to meet with friends and family for an afternoon of fun. In the present socially restricted climate, where do you go and what do you do?

Victoria:  In the real world it would be a walk by a lake or a river with squirrels running up trees and a bar of chocolate in my pocket.  In a fantasy world we would walk along a deserted beach in Puglia until we found a pop-up stall selling gelato run by a young, dark-eyed Italian.

 

Arabella: All authors love and need to read. When choosing a book, do you:

a) pick off the shelf?

b) search online?

c) go with friends recommendations?

d) other…

Victoria: All the above.  If I’m searching the shelves or browsing online I’m probably looking for an author I already know but my best friend and I always exchange books on our birthdays and try to pick something the other one wouldn’t normally read.  My other tip is to go a bookshop or library and choose a random letter of the alphabet and pick something from that shelf.  ‘H’ led me to Elin Hilderbrand, a marvellous writer from Nantucket.

 

Arabella: Italian, French or English. (I’ll leave it to you to decide if I mean a gourmet meal, a bottle of wine, or a partner!)

Victoria:  You can’t top a plate of spaghetti alle vongole with a glass of chilled wine overlooking the Gulf of Naples or homemade pasta served by an ancient nonna in a tiny trattoria in a Tuscan village.  I’d follow it up with a lemon-scented torta della nonna speckled with pine nuts and dusted with icing sugar.  But on a cold day there’s nothing like a proper English pud like apple crumble or sponge pudding and custard.  As for men: Italians make great fantasy lovers for romance writers, but they can be rather high maintenance.  Englishmen like my husband tend to take themselves a lot less seriously.

 

Apple Crumble and Custard

Arabella: The moment we are published, a career path is usually envisaged. Do you have any aspirations or ambitions for yourself and any future novels you might write?

Victoria:  My first ambition is for readers to love The Italian Holiday so much that they want to read my second book, set in a riding school in Tuscany, which Orion Dash will be bringing out later this summer.  Beyond that, to keep writing and selling my books.  Of course, I’d love to see The Italian Holiday made into a film or TV movie; the locations alone would make good viewing.  I’m not sure who would play Bluebell or Michela, but I think Judi Dench would make a great Miriam!

 

Thank you for joining me on Arabella’s Blog and Chit-Chat, Victoria. I’m sure your readers enjoyed discovering a little bit more about your personal life. Good luck with your debut release, The Italian Holiday, and wishing you lots more happy-ever-after writing.

Arabella

www.arabellasheen.co.uk

 

 

About  Victoria Springfield

Victoria Springfield - Author

Victoria Springfield writes contemporary women’s fiction immersed in the sights, sounds and flavours of Italy.  Her feel-good stories follow unforgettable characters of all ages as they find adventure, friendship and romance.

Victoria inherited a love of Italy from her father.  In 2015 she visited the charming seaside town of Minori, which inspired her first book, The Italian Holiday.  Two years later she ‘eloped’ there to get married.  After many years in London, she now lives in Kent with her husband in a house by the river.  She likes to write in the garden with a neighbour’s cat by her feet or whilst drinking cappuccino in her favourite café.  Then she types up her scribblings in silence whilst her mind drifts away to Italy.

Victoria joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2019.  In 2020 she signed a two-book deal with Orion Dash and graduated to full membership of the RNA.

The Italian Holiday will be published by Orion Dash in March 2021.  Victoria is currently working on her second book, set in the Tuscan countryside.  

 

Social Media: 

https://twitter.com/VictoriaSwrites

https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaSpringfieldAuthor

 

Book Blurb - The Italian Holiday

 

Sun, sea and spaghetti...

Italy was Bluebell's dream destination, but taking her granny's place on the Loving and Knitting magazine competition holiday she'd won wasn't quite what she'd had in mind. For one thing she didn't knit and for the other...well being single probably discounted her from the love category too. But a free holiday is a free holiday and it's the perfect escape from her lacklustre life.
Michela didn't think she'd be returning home to Italy so soon, a new job at her cousin's restaurant on the harbour of Positano was a dream gig, miles away from the grey London clouds. This time though, she vowed not to fall into old habits, Stefano was the past and now her future in her old hometown beckoned.
But under the Italian skies a whole host of possibilities await and maybe happy-ever-after is just a plane-ride away...

Buy Links: http://amzn.to/2Xy3HkF

Release date: 12th March 2021